Chapter 20 - The Workshop and the Dwarf's Confession
Aidan’s workshop was in the district where the city’s blacksmiths gathered.
That said, it was a small city, so there were only about three of them lined up.
His workshop was the largest of the stone buildings, complete with a yard.
The place was a bit intimidating, and while I hesitated to go in, Mizuki walked right past me and entered.
Inside, several dwarf craftsmen were on a break. They glared at us. I wanted to leave.
"Excuse me. We’re here to see Aidan-san."
When Mizuki spoke, one of them shouted, "Boss!" A moment later, Aidan appeared.
"I see."
Aidan nodded as we explained the situation on the third floor of the dungeon.
"I have bows and kunai in stock. I’ll go get them, you wait in the backyard."
At Aidan’s prompting, we headed to the backyard. It was too small to be called a field, but it was a decent open space. Do they make bows at a workshop like this? It felt strange. Then again, I remembered Aidan had used a bow himself. Maybe that’s why he had some stock to spare. Same for the kunai. Was there even a demand for them? Maybe the city was teeming with ninjas and I just hadn’t noticed.
"Fam, do you know what a ninja is?"
"Yes, I’ve heard it’s an advanced profession. I don’t know the details, though."
"They exist?!"
So maybe there was a niche demand after all.
A short while later, Aidan returned with a bow and some kunai. Mizuki was staring intently at the bow.
"This shortbow is made of carbon fiber, isn’t it?"
"Hmph, you know of it?"
"Ah, um, well… Mash probably knows too."
Why drag me into this? I remembered that I’d warned her not to say anything that would reveal we were from another world. Now I was an accomplice. For the record, I knew nothing about the material.
"Just as I thought. Someone was using one of these during the Demon Lord subjugation a hundred years ago. Same with these kunai."
What did he mean, just as I thought? I wanted to press him on it, but I held my tongue.
"Did you make these, Aidan-san?" Mizuki asked.
"I did. Carbon can’t be made here, so I used my Workshop skill."
"How old are you, Aidan-san?"
"I’m 124."
"Which means you know about the Demon Lord subjugation a hundred years ago."
"Aye, I was with the Holy Knights."
Aidan nodded. Someone who knew about the Demon Lord was this close to us all along.
"Did you defeat the Demon Lord?"
"Someone who came from another world did."
"Is there any chance you missed him, or that he’s alive somewhere?"
"Who knows. I haven’t heard anything of the sort."
Aidan shook his head at Mizuki’s persistent questioning.
He handed me the bow and an arrow.
"See that target hanging from the tree branch? Give it a shot."
A target was hanging about five meters away. Not knowing what I was doing, I drew the bow and loosed the arrow haphazardly. The moment it left the string, the arrow spun and flew toward Fam, who was watching beside me.
"Eek!"
Fam yelped and dodged. Mizuki was trying to hold back her laughter. What a piece of junk.
"Hmph. I’ll teach you how to shoot."
"Can you teach me, too?" Mizuki asked. What was with her ability to just slide into people’s good graces like that? I would have just stood there blankly.
"I-I’d like to learn, too," Fam added.
"All right. I’ll go get more bows, wait here."
The three of us learned how to shoot a bow. The best was Mizuki. With her high physical abilities, she picked it up right away. Fam was next. However, her lack of strength meant that while she could hit the target, she struggled to pierce it. I had the strength, but I couldn’t hit the target. It was probably the bow’s fault.
"Mash, use your wind magic to support the arrow as you release it. Eventually, you should be able to do it without the assistance."
Wind magic, which I had thought was my most useless skill, finally had its day in the sun.
With wind magic compensating for my lack of skill, I became as proficient with the bow as Mizuki.
Next, the three of us learned how to use kunai. However, Aidan wasn't an expert in their use, so it seemed we’d have to learn through practice in real combat.
Fam, who I thought would lack the strength, used her whole body like a spring and threw them with surprising dexterity.
The worst, once again, was me. It was honestly getting depressing.
"I’ll sell you one bow and ten kunai. The price is one magic seed."
The bow he offered had a magic enhancement on it.
"No, that’s nowhere near enough. Even if I don’t have enough on me now, I’ll be sure to bring it. Please tell me the proper price."
"It’s fine. You need to break your daughter’s curse, don’t you? Keep it."
"…Aidan, wait. I told you before, I’ve done nothing to deserve this kindness. I need a reason. Otherwise, I can’t accept it."
At my words, Aidan looked up at the sky, seeming to gather his thoughts.
"Right then. It’s almost time for dinner. Let’s eat together."
The sun was beginning to set. A considerable amount of time had passed.
Since it was a special occasion, I decided to make omurice.
I bought the rice, tomatoes, and other ingredients at the market. I was surprised to see rice for sale, but it was certain that there were other transfers besides me and Mizuki. From Aidan’s story, I could imagine there were transfers a hundred years ago as well. They must have been the ones to introduce it. The eggs came from the chickens Aidan kept at his workshop.
I had thought making ketchup would be a pain, but using Aidan’s Workshop skill, I made it in a flash. My storage preserves items in the state they were in when stored, but the Workshop could also control the passage of time, as well as heat and cool things. It sounded convenient, but having everything affected like that would be a hassle.
"Nah, you can create partitions to separate things," he had explained.
And it turned out that an adventurer’s storage could do the same thing at level 15 or higher. It could be divided into up to six sections, and a partitioned section could be lent out as shared storage. I immediately set up a partition for Fam.
Now, when Fam was by my side, she could freely access the storage assigned to her.
Mizuki made stew, with Fam helping her. Does Mizuki have a cooking skill, too? She’s a total prodigy.
There was also some meat that Aidan had grilled up. A beer sat at Mizuki's side.
"…"
"Hey, it’s a special occasion, right? I haven’t had a drink since that day!"
"Well, one drink should be fine. I made it myself. Sometimes sells for more than my weapons."
Aidan handed me a beer. I’m not a fan, but I had no choice. I took it and brought it to my lips.
"Wow, this is good."
Aidan just grinned silently. Fam was staring at me, so I passed her my cup.
"You shouldn’t drink alcohol until your body is fully grown. Not until you’re twenty. I’m not part of some advocacy group, so I don’t know the real facts. But if you become an alcoholic, I’m leaving you behind."
"Okay, just one sip then."
Gulp. It was a big sip.
"Phew," she sighed, a blissful look on her face.
"Oh, Aidan-san, I want a sword made by you, too. Could you sell me one sometime?"
Aidan glanced at Mizuki.
"Weren’t you with ‘Wind Blade’?"
"Um, actually, I’m thinking of leaving."
"What? I haven’t heard anything about this," I interjected.
"Mmph… I was waiting for the right time to tell you. I want to join your party, Mash."
"Hey, are you serious? We’re only exploring the dungeon for a little while. We’re heading to the eastern city of Migul soon. The dungeon is just training for that."
"I didn’t know that, but I’m still okay with it."
I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I looked at Fam. In situations like this, Fam’s decision was clear: she would leave it up to me.
"Let’s talk about the party later. Sorry. I interrupted," I said, steering the conversation back to Aidan and Mizuki.
"No, I don’t have anything else to say. If you’re leaving ‘Wind Blade,’ then it doesn’t matter to me."
This whole thing spelled trouble.
"I thought it looked very fluffy. And it was very fluffy."
Fam gave her review of her first omurice. It was my masterpiece. I had wanted to draw a heart with ketchup, but I only had a spoon, so it was impossible.
"It’s so delicious, and… delicious. Master, I want to eat this again."
Her cheeks were flushed. Her words were strange, too. Could she be drunk?
Mizuki was also savoring her food.
"This brings back memories. It makes me remember… I think I might cry."
She must be thinking of our old world. I had been missing the taste of rice, too. I should have just cooked the rice normally with some side dishes.
"Hmph, delicious."
Aidan seemed pleased as well.
"By the way, about what we were talking about earlier. You’re going to tell us, right?"
"Aye. The day before you bought Fam, I’d heard there was a dog-eared girl locked in a cell and left there, so I went to check on her. The situation was unnatural."
"Don’t tell me you wanted Fam?"
I was shocked. But Aidan shook his head.
"Same as you. I’m not into that sort of thing. I was planning to find a chance to rescue her, but you went and negotiated to buy her."
"Is that what happened…"
"Well, I was just thinking about it. You were the one who actually acted. I wanted to help you two in place of what I couldn’t do."
The one guarding Fam had been that crazed thug. Even Aidan might have had trouble taking him down. A fight would have drawn attention, and if it became an incident, Aidan would have been the one judged as the attacker.
"I get it. I’m grateful to you, Aidan. But this is too much."
"If you think so, then grow until you’re strong enough to defeat the Demon Lord. You’re a transfer, aren’t you?"
Aidan must have met a transfer a hundred years ago. That’s how he knew.
"Hold on a second," Mizuki interrupted.
"From what you’ve just said, all that happened was that Fam’s ownership changed hands. Sure, she was freed from a cell, but she’s still bound by the status of a slave. It’s meaningless. She hasn’t been freed from anything."
Mizuki directed her anger at me. I really should have cleared up this misunderstanding sooner.
"Fam, please."
"Mizuki, I am a free citizen." Fam pulled down her arm cover.
"The slave crest is… gone. Then why were you pretending to be a slave?"
"That would be my fault."
That was right. It was Aidan who had told me to act as her owner to avoid trouble, since there was discrimination against non-humans in this city. When I thought about it, I had just been following Aidan’s advice.
Mizuki hung her head in defeat upon hearing the explanation.
"If that was the case, you should have told me sooner!"
"There were people around in the guild at that time!"
Fam knew my state of mind back then, but she kept quiet for me.
"Even this morning, things got so tense between us."
"Wait a minute. That was because Fam delivered that whole speech, which made it hard to say anything…"
"…You’re right. I was the one who got heated first. I’ll reflect on that."
Mizuki conceded. I felt like it was my fault, but I decided to go along with it for now.
"Do you know of the Crimson Brigade?" Aidan asked, having waited for my argument with Mizuki to end.
"No, I don’t."
"They’re thieves. They wear red hoods when they commit their crimes."
"What?" It was Fam who reacted to Aidan’s words.
"I got it out of those caravan merchants. It doesn’t seem like they bought her directly, but that group is apparently famous as a source for the slave black market. They’re the ones who attacked Fam’s settlement. You might run into them if you head east."
Fam’s shoulders were trembling. The ones who attacked her village must have been wearing red hoods. I didn’t understand why criminals would leave behind such obvious evidence. Was it for notoriety? I gently put my arm around Fam’s shoulders.
"Got it. I’ll keep that in mind."
"Are you sure the Demon Lord is really gone?"
Mizuki asked Aidan. Now that he knew we were transfers, she probably wanted to gather as much information as possible. Especially since Mizuki intended to return to our world by defeating the Demon Lord.
"I’m not hiding information. I believe he was defeated. However, transfers weren’t only summoned to this world a hundred years ago. It seems to have happened before then, too. The elves might know more about that. They are long-lived, after all."
"Is that so."
"Also, you should be careful. You’re not the only transfers. A god must have summoned you. Likewise, other gods are summoning transfers in the same way. If you meet, you will likely fight."
"…Why would we fight?" I asked.
"Who knows. A hundred years ago, it seemed like we were being set up to do so. And the one who survived went on to defeat the Demon Lord."
Thank you for reading. To those who have bookmarked and rated this story, I am truly grateful. It encourages me. I’ll do my best. Thank you for the typo reports. They are a tremendous help. And thank you for the comments as well.